Mission
The Airport Rescue and Firefighting Station is responsible for aircraft emergencies that occur at the El Paso International Airport. The Station is located on airport property and is staffed 24 hours daily. In addition to aircraft emergencies, the crew responds to medical emergencies at the terminal and inside the perimeter of the airport. Other types of incidents include fuel spills, accidents, hazardous materials incidents, and calls for assistance.

Vehicle Descriptions
ARFF 1 – 1999 Oshkosh TI-1500 Aircraft Firefighting Vehicle

Agents

• 1500 gallons water
• 210 gallons Aqueous Film-Forming-Foam (AFFF)
• 460 pounds of Halotron I

ARFF 2 – 2000 Oshkosh TI-3000 Aircraft Firefighting Vehicle

Unit has a snozzle, which offers the unit the ability to apply water, foam, and Halotron from various heights without exposing the firefighter and vehicle to dangers associated with hazardous cargo, fuel, and heat that may accompany an aircraft incident. Attached to the snozzle is a piercing nozzle, which may be used to pierce the skin of an aircraft and expel agent to the interior. A thermal imager is also mounted on the snozzle. This allows the firefighter to locate the source of the fire in an aircraft allowing precise application of extinguishing agent on the fire.

Agents

• 3000 gallons Water
• 420 gallons Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF)
• 460 lbs Halotron I

ARFF 3 – 2000 Oshkosh TI-3000 Aircraft Firefighting Vehicle

Unit has a snozzle, which offers the unit the ability to apply water, foam, and Halotron from various heights without exposing the firefighter and vehicle to dangers associated with hazardous cargo, fuel, and heat that may accompany an aircraft incident. Attached to the snozzle is a piercing nozzle, which may be used to pierce the skin of an aircraft and expel agent to the interior. A thermal imager is also mounted on the snozzle. This allows the firefighter to locate the source of the fire in an aircraft allowing precise application of extinguishing agent on the fire.

Agents

• 3000 gallons Water
• 420 gallons Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF)
• 460 lbs Halotron I

ARFF 4 – 19 95 Ford Crew Cab pickup

Carries various tools used for aircraft emergencies such as:

• medical supplies
• forcible entry tools
• saws
• rescue air bags
• thermal imager
• self-contained breathing apparatus
• fire drill

ARFF 5 – 2000 Ford Crew Cab pickup

Primarily used as the on-scene Incident Commander until the arrival of the Battalion Chief.

Carries forcible entry tools, SCBA, Airbags, medical equipment

ARFF 6 – 1989 Ford pickup

Used as a backup for ARFF 4 and ARFF 5 when out-of-service due to maintenance.

ARFF 11 – 1986 Oshkosh Aircraft Firefighting Vehicle

Extinguishing agents:

• 1000 gallons water
• 130 gallons AFFF
• 450 lbs Purple K dry chemical

II. Personnel and Station
Airport Fire Station operates 24 hours a day/7 days a week. There are 3 shifts of firefighters which rotate. Firefighters work an average of 56 hours per week.

Staffing – The airport station is staffed with a minimum of 6 personnel on-duty for the Aircraft Firefighting vehicles and another 2 personnel for the Medic unit. The Airport Fire Station is staffed by El Paso Fire Department firefighters. The majority of these firefighters are structurally certified.

The Airport Fire Station is located in the center of the airfield, situated between the runways. The first aircraft firefighting vehicle is required by the Federal Aviation Administration to reach the midpoint of the furthest air carrier runway in less than 3 minutes upon notification of alarm by the Air Traffic Control Tower

III. Description of Airport
The El Paso International Airport is owned and operated by the City of El Paso. The airport is located approximately 5 miles northeast of the downtown business district in the City of El Paso at an elevation of 3,958 feet.

The Airport provides fuel, line services, terminal facilities, and instrument approaches

Air Traffic Control services are provided by the FAA El Paso Air Traffic Control Tower

There are 2 air carrier runways and 1 general aviation runway located at the airport.

El Paso International is an index ‘C’ airport requiring a minimum of two aircraft firefighting vehicles to be available during air carrier operations.

IV. Training
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Texas Commission on Fire Protection require personnel that work in Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting maintain their proficiency in the following:

• Airport Familiarization
• Aircraft Familiarization
• Personal Safety
• Emergency Communication
• Fire hose, turrets, nozzles and other equipment
• Fire extinguishing agents
• Emergency aircraft evacuation
• Firefighting operations
• Adapting structural equipment to aircraft firefighting
• Aircraft cargo hazards
• Airport Emergency Plan

Each firefighter needs 120 hours of initial training in the above subjects and also needs recurrent training annually.

Each firefighter is required to attend live fire training annually.

The El Paso Fire Department has used Salt Lake City, Texas A&M, and Socorro New Mexico in order to accomplish this requirement since El Paso does not currently have a facility that meets the FAA requirement.

Additional Images:

| | | | | | | | | | |

print-version